I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.
Today, I am reading and commenting on Amos 1-5.
Amos was a shepherd. He had no special education or training, but God used him to call the people of Israel and Judah to renewed faith. We must not make the mistake of thinking that only those with the proper education or training can deliver God’s message to us. Amos begins his message by declaring God’s judgement on the nations surrounding Israel for their repeated sins. One thing I missed the first time through today was that his warning to Judah falls into the same category as his declarations against the other nations surrounding Israel. For each of these nations, Amos declares they have sinned again and again and that God will not allow them to go unpunished. Amos followed that with a short description of that nation’s sins and God’s coming punishment. Then he gets to Israel and goes into a longer message, directing the rest of the book at Israel.
Amos declares that the people of Israel saw God exercise His power on their behalf, but chose to disobey Him anyway. God called some of them to speak His word and others to dedicate themselves to His service. Rather than be inspired by these people the Israelites told the prophets to shut up and caused those dedicated to service to violate their vows. Amos goes on to condemn them for oppressing the poor while living a life of ease. He goes on to recount how God sent warnings to the people of Israel in the form of natural disasters and wars, but they would not repent of their sins. Amos points out that they despise those who tell the truth and use bribes to oppress good people. Things have gotten so bad that people no longer point out their sins for fear of being next. Finally, Amos warns them that time is running out to turn back to God. There is still time for the people to avoid God’s judgement by doing what is good and staying away from evil. But they must bring justice back to their courts or God’s judgement will fall on them.
I said that Amos’ warning that time was running out was the final thing he said in today’s passage, but that is not quite true. No, the final, and in my mind the key thing, he says in today’s passage is that we should not wish for the Day of the Lord to come. That day will be a day of great trauma. While those who faithfully call upon the name of the Lord will be spared on that day, they will still suffer from seeing the suffering of others. Those who long for the Day of the Lord fall into two categories. Those who fail to realize how terrifying that day will be and those who fail to feel God’s love for sinners. The latter are hypocrites who do not realize that they too will face God’s judgement on that day. Rather than beg God for His Day to come, let us seek to delay its coming by seeking justice and striving to live righteous lives. Perhaps if we are faithful we will inspire those around us to be faithful as well. Let us seek to delay the coming of the Day of the Lord so that more may come to know Him.